Red Sox sign 1B Gonzalez to 7-year deal

Boston Red Sox's Adrian Gonzalez looks at his hand after being hit by a pitch from New York Yankees' CC Sabathia during the fifth inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston on Sunday, April 10, 2011. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)
— AP

Boston Red Sox's Adrian Gonzalez looks at his hand after being hit by a pitch from New York Yankees' CC Sabathia during the fifth inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston on Sunday, April 10, 2011. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)
/ AP

BOSTON 
Adrian Gonzalez signed a $154 million, seven-year contract with the Red Sox on Friday then turned his attention to an elusive reward - winning.

Boston hasn't done that much.

"We have faith in ourselves," said Gonzalez, whose new deal runs through 2018. "We're going to turn this around."

Gonzalez is making $6.3 million in the final year of the contract he had when the Red Sox obtained him from the San Diego Padres for three prospects on Dec. 6. Boston went into Friday night's opener of a four-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays with a 2-9 record, the worst in baseball.

That's one win for each long-term deal they agreed to in a six-day span. Pitcher Clay Buchholz was guaranteed $30 million for five years in a contract announced last Sunday. He was 0-2 with a 7.20 ERA before pitching Friday after going 17-7 with a 2.33 ERA last year.

The contract for Gonzalez, a three-time All-Star first baseman, averages $22 million a year.

The team announced the deal at a news conference Friday afternoon. The terms were confirmed to The Associated Press by a person familiar with the deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement.

"If you're going to make this kind of commitment, I think you have to be very comfortable with not only the player but also the person," general manager Theo Epstein said. "If you're going to bet on one player, we're very comfortable betting on Adrian Gonzalez."

Epstein praised Gonzalez for how well he's fit in with his new team and the leadership he's displayed during the poor start.

"Adrian has really impressed everybody by being so engaged in every aspect of the game. He's not one of these great players who just shows up to hit four times a day," Epstein said. "He's been really active on defense, active in the clubhouse, involved in everything that's going on."

Gonzalez also has stayed optimistic as the team that was picked by many to win the World Series matched its record for its worst start in the first 11 games.

"I'm a very positive person," Gonzalez said. "I just keep telling everybody, 'Have fun, play your game and things will turn around.' ... One thing that we'll always have is that talent-wise we're going to be better than the other team, so just focus on that."

Gonzalez could have played out this season and become a free agent, but wanted the certainty of knowing where he would be.

"I'm a person that really likes to just focus on winning," he said. "When the focus isn't on the team, from my personal standpoint, that's not where I want to be. I want to be where 'let's forget about everything else and let's just focus on winning and being part of the team.' "

Details of the deal were discussed at the time of the trade, but by waiting until after the season started the Red Sox saved luxury tax money. At one point in December, the trade appeared to fall through when the Red Sox and Gonzalez stopped negotiating, but talks resumed and, "at the end of the day when we had our bottom line that's exactly what we eventually settled for," said John Boggs, Gonzalez's agent.